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Over the long haul should be cheaper to run than a new Ford Fiesta

In the early days, the cars topped £55,000 for a basic model and with all the potential loaded extras, you would easily look at £70,000.

In 2008 we have a different story. As with all new cars, the depreciation starts to kick in, and now you can get a very fine early example for £15,000 or less.

I am delighted to say that I signed a deal today and will shortly be an owner of a fully loaded early (2000) model.

Unlike some of the reviewers here, I have actually driven the car and can give a real opinion.

The car is in some ways understated ... you drive it for the first time and wonder what all the fuss is about. In normal driving, the car is a smooth, sedate, but responsive car ideal for town driving, but it is a sleeping giant. Once you decide that you want to drive the car aggressively and kickdown the accelerator, all 370bhp is unleashed and available to you ... and you really feel it - my spine impression is embedded in the back of the seat!!

The car I bought (and drove) is a fully loaded specimen with the 20" Detroit wheels and Brembo brakes with sports handling on board.

Sat Nav was an early option and on top of the premium wheels/brakes/handling pack, that is probably the biggest additional optional extra available from new.

For an 8 year old car, it was a delight to find that everything worked as intended and is a testament to Jaguar engineering.

Maybe it will surprise you .... it certainly surprised me, but I actually had a sporty new shape Fiesta on order. But when I did the maths, it made sense to buy the older Jag which has potential to hold value, whereas the Fiesta can only lose value ... it seems to make sense to enjoy the sportier jag and have the scope to possibly hold its value rather than buy a depreciating new Ford.

Sure the new (well, old!!) jag will cost us a bit more at the petrol pump, but given that the car will never do more that 5,000 miles p.a. as a second car and will not drop in value like the Ford, it seems to make economic sense overall.

Only time will tell, but a (close to) supercar for less than £15k is too much to pass up on.

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This is a large beautiful sleek Grand Turismo (GT) car, not really a "sports" car. It is often compared with the Porsche 911 but I think it is more like a traditional Aston Martin in character. It is smooth, very powerful and fast and extremely comfortable, if you are in the front. The rear seats are almost pointless, but look great, beautifully covered in expensive leather. I've never tried sitting in them, as I would probably never be able to get out again. Ideal for some luggage. The boot is big enough for a couple of fairly large sized suitcases. More than enough for a couple of weeks touring, which is what this car is so perfectly designed for. The interior is beautifully old-fashioned with wooden dashboard and lots of dials, although some cars have a sat-nav screen in the middle which doesn't look as good, in my opinion.I have the supercharged XKR coupe version which has almost an extra 100 bhp more than the standard XK8 (about 380bhp) although I have driven both and even the standard one is a very desirable car. The convertible is also good, but didn't appear to handle quite as well, although has the advantage that you can hear that wonderful V8 engine. In the coupe you have to stick your head out of the window and drive like an idiot through a tunnel before you really get the full effect of the noise. The XKR has Computer Active Suspension (CATS) which makes it handle even better, and automatically tightens up the shock absorbers when you drive on twisty roads, although this is an option on the standard car as well. The handling and ride really are very good for such a big car.

The best thing about this car is the price. At £70K new with lots of extra options it seems rather pricey, but after just a few years the price drops quite dramatically. The oldest examples are well below £10,000 now, although could be an expensive nightmare in old age as with any old Jaguar, but a middle-aged low-mileage example in good condition could easily cost less than £15,000 to £20,000. I have read stories of expensive maintenance problems, but so far (touch wood) have had no problems at all with my 7-year-old in almost 3 years and 30,000 miles. Pre-2000 cars have cylinders lined with Nikasil which reacted with some kinds of high-sulphur petrol available at the time, causing many cars to need replacement engines due to excessive cylinder-liner wear, so extreme caution should be taken when considering such cars. All later cars will not have the problem and some of the older ones will have had a new engine anyway.The running costs are high. Insurance is group 20 for the XKR and servicing at a Jaguar main dealer is expensive, although obviously less expensive if you use a independent specialist. My servicing costs have averaged £410 per 10,000 miles using an independent specialist, but I may have been lucky. Always budget for a possible very large bill. Fuel consumption however is perhaps not as bad as it could be at about 20 to 24 mpg which is better than some comparable cars, such as Maserati coupes, Astons etc. although with current fuel prices may still make you think twice before putting your foot down. Oil consumption on my car is negligible, so high oil consumption could indicate a potential problem. Tyres are big and quite expensive at about £150 each for the standard wheels.

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You would be very hard pressed indeed to find a sexier looking car anywhere in the world than the XKR. It is a beast, and I want one! The XKR is, for those of you who don't know, the younger, sportier brother of the XK8 and can whip you along B-roads at speeds of up to 250kph. With an acceleration of 0-60 in about 5 seconds (just a little slower than a run-of-the-mill Porsche) and kicking out a whopping 370 break horse power, this car would be powerful enough to keep Sterling Moss happy! But power normally means that machines like this need a petrol tank the size of the QE2 to keep them going between service stations on the motorway. Well it is quite surprising that the XKR squeezes a full 22.5 miles out of a gallon of petrol, and the large tank means you can do about 350 miles on a full tank... How boring? Normally I don't go into so much inane detail in my opinions, but as this is normally the thing people want to know when they go into the cars section of dooyoo, so I thought I'd add it all in to keep them happy. But all I did was go to the Jaguar site and copy some numbers from there. Did you really think I knew all that crud? Come on... If you really want all that stuff go here: http://www.jaguar.com/uk/ Anyway, why am I writing a review of the XKR? I can't really give a qualified review as if I actually had one I would probably be driving about in it now rather than sat at my PC typing up some stuff about it. But I can dream, can't I? And every morning on my way to work I pass the Jaguar garages and they are all lined up - XR's, XK's, S-Types, and pretty soon there is a drool-covered, Cuchulain-shaped face-print on the window of the bus. I'm sure they line them up early just to wind me up, knowing that I want one. They sit outside all sleek and majestic, glistening in the early morning sun, looking like sharks with wheels, capable of ripping any other car on the road to pieces. And th at is just the bog-standard model (as if the XKR could ever be called a bog-standard model). Think about any add-on possible and you can get it stuck into one of these babies for an extra cost. Have trouble getting lost? Just ask for a Global Positioning System with built-in DVD Rom that has the entire country's roads mapped out and will take voice instructions as to where you want to go. It will then happily direct you to wherever you want. Nice. I want one. A front cup-holder will set you back about £65 while the In Car Entertainment system (a snip at £780) automatically changes the balance to the speakers depending on how many passengers there are in the car for optimum performance. How decadant can you get? I really want one. Scandanavian hides make up the mass of leater that wraps around you as you sit, no, that should be drape yourself in the seats. Although there are two rear seats I wouldn't count on carrying any passengers that haven't acted as one of the Seven Dwarves in Pantomime. Just enough for the golf bag then. Did I mention I want one? All in all, I think the XKR is the best car available in the world (until the next sporty Jag comes out). But all I want to know is where do I sign up to sell my soul to get one? Because I want one. P.S. If my girlfriend happens to read this opinion, I will accept it as a Christmas present if I have to, but seeing as our anniversary is in June you could get it for me then... thnx - luv u x x x (Do you think that'll work?)

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Fulham defender Chris Coleman crashed his gorgeous xkr into a tree about a month ago and he is very lucky to have come away with it with his life! He broke his leg in 4 places and dislocated his ankle. His career may be over. But it has to be said that the safety features on this baby must be good to some extent. No car iss ever going to be crashproof but the xk8 managed to keep someone alive after hitting a tree at high speed. If you saw the pictures of the car after the accident you will agree that it was absolutely shattered, and most said it was a miracle that Coleman survived. But if you look at the picture carefully you will notice that the bodywork all seemed to shatter around him rather than on him. Putting this horrific accident aside, this car has got everything you could possibly want. Its what you may like to call - a perfect car. It has tremendous speed, fantastic acceleration and looks stunning. A real pleasure to drive.

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The Jaguar XKR is a hell of a car. It combines great looks, good price, long list of items as standard with a very fast engine. The 4.0 V8 engine has a top speed of 155 miles per hour and it does 0-60 in a breathtaking 5.2 seconds. The car has 370 bhp!!!!!!!!!!! All of these following items come as standard: Adjustable steering rake Adjustable steering reach Alarm Alloy Wheels Anti-lock brakes Auto gearbox Climate Control Cruise Control Deadlocks Driver's airbag Electric front windows Electric mirrors Heated mirrors Immobiliser Leather seats Locking wheel nuts Metallic paint Multi-CD Player Passenger airbag Power seats Power steering RDS Radio Remote central locking Seatbelt pretensioners Side airbags Side impact bars Traction control Unique-fit radio The car drives very smoothly and is extremely quick. If you have a spare £55,000 for a coupe version, please buy this car NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!